A Valentine to Mr Darling

St John Ambulance sent a Valentine to Alistair Darling to highlight the plight of young people, as part of its commitment to ensuring every child has the best start in life.

The Campaign to End Child Poverty, a coalition of 150 leading charities and trade unions, arranged for more than 120 Valentine's cards, signed by Chief Executives and General Secretaries from its member organisations and other supporters, to be delivered to Number 11.

In the cards, the campaign calls on the romantically-named Chancellor to be a real darling and 'show a little love in the Budget,' by investing £3 billion in tax credits and benefits to improve the lives of the 3.9 million UK children living in poverty. Without this sum, the campaign says, the Government's promise to halve child poverty by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020 is severely at risk.

UK children's commissioners are sending cards along with St John Ambulance, Save the Children, Barnardo's, UNICEF, TUC, UNISON, and a wide range of Chief Executives and General Secretaries from children's and other charities, social justice groups, faith groups, academics and trade unions.

Director of the campaign, Hilary Fisher, said: ‘We are calling on Mr Darling to live up to his name because, without urgent investment, the target to end child poverty will not be met.

‘Child poverty is a blight that is likely to get worse as the recession bites and the cost of basic goods goes up. Families that are already struggling with poverty are in the front line and face increasing risk of severe poverty.

‘The budget is a fantastic opportunity for the Government to keep its promise to do something about child poverty, and reverse the downward spiral for poor children.'

Head of Youth at St John Ambulance, Wendy Human, added: 'We've given our backing to the End Child Poverty Campaign because, as a youth organisation committed to the personal development of young people, it is important to us that every young person has the best possible start in life. One in three children live in poverty in the UK today and without significant investment this year any progress on child poverty is at risk.'